Pastor's Blog

Advent Conspiracy

Several years ago, a few pastors were lamenting how they’d come to the end of an Advent season exhausted and sensing they’d missed it again: the awe-inducing, soul-satisfying mystery of the incarnation.

No wonder there was a dread at the beginning of each new season as they prepared to proclaim, celebrate, and worship around the story of God entering our world as one of us.

A creeping kind of idolatry was consuming them and their communities.

It seemed as if all were drowning in a sea of financial debt and endless lists of gifts to buy. An overwhelming stress had overtaken any sense of worship. People now believed the marketing lie that spending money is the best way to express love. This, combined with the American mindset that “more must be better” was now consuming pastors and congregations alike.

Somehow, this had become the new normal. This had become everyone’s Christmas routine. Every year people were being devoured by the Christmas frenzy, and every year the Advent season ended with a sinking feeling that once again, they’d missed the point.

So, three pastors—Rick McKinley from Imago Dei Community in Portland, Chris Seay from Ecclesia in Houston, and Greg Holder from The Crossing in the St. Louis area—decided to try something different.

They called it the Advent Conspiracy, and came up with four tenets—Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All—to guide themselves, their families, and congregations through their season of preparation for Christmas. It started small—just the three churches and a handful of others who would try this experiment. They didn’t know what to expect, but deep down they sensed a longing to reclaim the story of Christmas. And along the way a revolution was born.

A video posted on YouTube went viral with more than a million views. In those first few years hundreds of churches in 17 countries on four continents were participating, and millions of dollars have been donated to transform the lives of people around the world.

Since then, every year more churches and groups—numbering in the thousands—have conspired to celebrate a more Christ-centered Christmas.

This year Wesleyan Height United Methodist Church is joining the conspiracy! Christmas changed the world 2000 years ago and I believe it can change the world again. This year I am asking that each family would sacrifice 10% of all the money you are planning to spend on Christmas gifts, Christmas parties, food and even transportation to visit loved one for a special Christmas offering to the church. A percentage of this special offering will be given to the Help Office of Owensboro and the remainder of that offering will go in to the general funds of the church to help us finish the year strong. This will give us the opportunity to expend many of our outreaches and ministries in the year to come and allow Christmas to transform the World again!